Winery Orlando Abrigo
Piemonte
The Langhe represent the close link between nature and the work of man. A splendid landscape of gentle hills disappearing far off into the mountains is completed by geometrically-patterned vineyards and enchanted castles.
Treiso, seven kilometres from Alba in the heart of this fertile land, is an old village standing at the meeting point of five hills.
Its name comes from the Latin word for three, "Tres", lying as it does in the vicinity of the third milestone from the original Roman town of Alba Pompeia.
The variety in the soil, formed by layers of more or less compact, brown-grey sand alternated with bluish-white calcareous marl, is what makes the wines grown on this land so unique.
The vineyards - facing due south - are tended with love, providing grapes of the highest quality that develop into wines with matchless properties.
The quality of the wines therefore depends on nature - the sun, climate and soil - but also on the way in which the vines are grown and tended. This is why in making its wines the Abrigo winery only uses grapes selected from its own estate.
The Abrigo family have been tending vineyards for generations, with their skills being handed down from father to son.
In 1988 Giovanni Abrigo completed his wine-growing studies, and began working alongside his father, Orlando, in the family business. Giovanni set out first-of-all to implement technical improvements in the winery, with the aim of producing wines of character.
Subsequently the estate was extended with the acquisition of land and vineyards where the growing of new varieties for the Langhe, such as Chardonnay and Merlot, could be experimented with.
Today, the Orlando Abrigo winery farms around 25 acres of vineyards growing both traditional wines, such as Barbaresco, Dolcetto d'Alba Barbera d'Alba and Langhe Freisa, and wines of the new generation.
New technology has been introduced into the winery alongside more traditional methods, with automatic fermenters being used to control the temperature and optimize the extraction of the colouring substances for the red wines. Furthermore, in the ageing of the wines Giovanni relies on a combination of large oak casks and smaller, 225-litre barrels made of French wood.
Together with his wife Virna Borgogno, he is also involved in the running of the Lodovico Borgogno estate located in the village of Barolo, which is specialized in the production of the celebrated wine of the same name.
The "Azienda Agricola Orlando Abrigo" is a young, family-run company which has been successful in blending tradition and innovation to the benefit of the quality of its wines.
